In the corner, the poor Little Black was being punished again, this was Mu Shuangshuang’s way of reprimanding it.
Every night before bed, but this ti it was moved to the afternoon.
Little Zhi’s eyes darted around in their sockets and then she whispered to Mu Shuangshuang, "Sister, just let Little Black play with . Don’t punish it, okay?"
"No way!" To dare imagine her as the one cleaning up, she had to teach this little thing a good lesson otherwise it’d be uncontrollable.
Little Zhi’s face imdiately fell.
She pouted her lips and obediently stood in front of the wall with Little Black.
"Then I’ll be punished with Little Black, Sister hurry and make dinner, once it’s ready, Little Black won’t have to stand here anymore."
Next to her, Little Black wanted to jump up and give Little Zhi a hug, but it didn’t dare, Mu Shuangshuang was too sharp. If it moved its little black legs, it’d get caught and get another round of beating.
No matter what Little Zhi said, Mu Shuangshuang remained unmoved. She thought to herself that standing for a while would also strengthen Little Zhi, so there was no need to let Little Black go.
"Shuangshuang, I’ve brought back the water, where should I put it?"
Without a proper kitchen, many things were inconvenient, but now the Mu Family’s water also had to be fetched by themselves.
Luckily their ho was close to one of the three wells in the village, so it didn’t take long to fetch a bucket of water.
"Just put it on the ground, I’ll quickly set up a simple stove."
A few blocks of mud-brick stacked, leftover wood chips and wood from building the house piled next to it, Mu Shuangshuang’s makeshift stove was done.
A stove couldn’t be simpler. It was fine for one or two als, but in the long run, it wouldn’t hold up.
Everything like the chopping board was borrowed from Lu Yuanfeng’s house; Mu Shuangshuang hadn’t gotten around to buying her own.
"I’ll chop the bones, you wash the vegetables!"
Lu Yuanfeng, acting like the host, assigned the lighter tasks to Mu Shuangshuang.
"Alright, but let chop the snake, I know how to get it flavored right."
When it ca to cooking, Mu Shuangshuang was naturally better equipped than Lu Yuanfeng, he had no argunt, and the two divided the tasks and got busy.
The snake at had already been cleaned, Mu Shuangshuang simply needed to chop it into segnts. The white snake at, once cut, was placed in a large bowl and set aside.
Taking advantage of the mont, Mu Shuangshuang began handling the bitter lon. The bitter lons bought from town were not big, much smaller than the premium ones she had eaten in her previous life, so handling them took no effort.
With one slice, the bitter lon was halved, the seeds scooped out, and Mu Shuangshuang began cutting the bitter lon into strips, then placed them in a bowl, and gave them a wash.
Since the aim was to preserve the original taste, Mu Shuangshuang didn’t soak the bitter lon in salt water, so all the bitterness was locked in, guaranteeing an authentic flavor.
Once Mu Shuangshuang finished preparing the small dishes, Lu Yuanfeng had also chopped the bones.
Building a fire, Mu Shuangshuang diligently cleaned the large iron pot on the mud bricks with a loofah sponge.
"All of you stand back, it’s very hot here."
Even though evening was approaching, the heat in the air remained. Standing by the stove, a wave of heat wafted over; even she felt the heat, so naturally, she wanted to keep Lu Yuanfeng and Mu Xiaohan at a distance.
Mu Xiaohan had been playing all day and just returned ho.
He carried in his hand so wild greens he’d just picked from the mountain. Coming into the house, he was just in ti for all this bustling activity and curiously wanted to take a look.
"Xiao Han, you ca back just in ti, go over to Yuan Feng’s house and call over Little Yuanbao. Everyone’s eating at our place today."
"Sure thing!"
Mu Xiaohan had been out playing with Yuanbao, so calling him was a delight, and in the blink of an eye, he was gone.
Mu Shuangshuang poured two scoops of rapeseed oil into the iron pot, and added the chopped garlic and ginger. With a sizzle, the aroma of rapeseed oil and the garlic-ginger blend together as she poured the cleaned snake at into the pot.
As the snake at still had moisture, entering the hot pot triggered a crackling fry, and Mu Shuangshuang started to stir-fry the at.
The fragrance was so enticing that Little Zhi, punished and standing aside, kept swallowing her own tongue.
Bone soup, snake stew, and bitter lon, it was Little Zhi’s first ti seeing so many good dishes. Indeed, splitting up was a good thing!
After a few dozen stirs, Mu Shuangshuang covered the pot and reduced the stove’s fire, waiting for the snake stew to slowly cook.
Once the snake stew was ready, Xiao Han and Yuanbao also returned. Hearing about the food, Yuanbao nearly sprinted there, his plump body jiggling, which was sowhat amusing.
"Sister Shuangshuang, Sister Shuangshuang, you made sothing delicious?"
Yuanbao exclaid, only to be hushed by a gesture from Mu Shuangshuang.
By now, it was late in the day, and the Old Mu Family should be having dinner. They couldn’t afford to let them overhear.
Mu Shuangshuang guessed right, while in the Old Mu Family’s main house, everyone except the third branch and Mu Dade were munching on stir-fried greens and fernted bean curd.
Not a hint of mince at in the dishes, the lack of oiliness left a deficiency in taste.
"Ugh, what is this stuff, can’t even eat it without a bit of at!"
Mu Zhenzhen threw down her chopsticks in dissatisfaction and complained to everyone.
Mrs. Lin had been displeased for a while but didn’t dare say it until now. With Mu Zhenzhen speaking up first, she chid in.
"Exactly, Mother, everyone’s working so hard. Why don’t you get us so at, at least to satisfy our craving? If there’s no at soon, I’ll waste away."
"Eat, eat, you only know to eat, even the sows in the pigsty know to contribute at, what do you know?" Old Mrs. Mu glared and began cursing at Mrs. Lin.
Mrs. Lin’s face flushed alternately between green and white.
"Mother, please buy so at, I’m too hungry to eat. I beg you, I promise I’ll get Zhuangzi to get up and work tomorrow morning."
Mu Zhenzhen got up and went over to Old Mrs. Mu, coaxing as she wrapped her arm around hers.
Hearing Mu Zhenzhen’s plea, Old Mrs. Mu’s spirit was lifted, she smiled, "Alright, alright, whatever our Zhenzhen wants to eat, we’ll make it happen. I’ll get you so at tomorrow."
Such favoritism left the remaining mbers of the Old Mu Family visibly displeased, especially Mrs. Jin.
At a ti when the Old Mu Family couldn’t even gather money for her, the idea of eating at was laughable, she thought with disdain.
"Mother, Dan Dan’s father was asking yesterday about the travel expenses, if we can’t gather them, he won’t sit for the exam."
"Nonsense, this exam isn’t sothing he can just decide not to take!" Mr. Mu’s face darkened further as he slamd his chopsticks down hard.
Currently, this father couldn’t eat or sleep well, his mind entirely occupied with his son’s affairs, who could understand how heartbroken he was?
If his son didn’t take the exam, wouldn’t all these years of effort be in vain?
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